Ingredients Of Identity

by Sofia Gardenswartz for Fresh Ink for Teens

Just like a delicious meal, I am a combination of many different experiences and interactions—each new experience adds another layer of flavor.

“If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.”—Audre Lorde, “Learning from the 60s” (1982).

I love food. I don’t think—in fact, I really hope—that’s not a divisive statement. But I’m not only a proud foodie, I’m also an avid chef. As the president of Serving Spoons, a nonprofit that prepares and delivers healthy and home-cooked meals to families in need, I feel very comfortable in the kitchen. And as any experienced cook knows, flavor is built, not invented. It takes a precise combination of many different ingredients to make the perfect bite.

Discovering My Judaism in Bowling Green, Kentucky

Posted on March 12th, 2018

BY SPENCER WELLS for newvoices.com

I hail from the city of Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville is a river city built on the banks of the Ohio river. That river is the only thing that separates the metropolis from being swallowed by the cultural mass of the Rust Belt, which begins with expanses of southern Indiana. As such, Louisville remains a part of Dixie. Not to be characterized as solely a border state, Kentucky asserts her Southern nature with the equine gambling pageant, the Kentucky Derby. Not to be defined as a parade of small town people in eccentric hats exchanging money over the clumping of hooves, she has given birth to many grand hometown heroes, including the greatest boxer in modern times, Muhammad Ali, her favorite son – God rest his soul.

Screen Addiction Among Teens: Is There Such A Thing?

Posted on March 5th, 2018

From on Morning Edition NPR.org

Look up from this screen right now. Take a look around. On a bus. In a cafe. Even at a stoplight. Chances are, most of the other people in your line of sight are staring at their phones or other devices. And if they don't happen to have one out, it is certainly tucked away in a pocket or bag.

But are we truly addicted to technology? And what about our kids? It's a scary question, and a big one for scientists right now. Still, while the debate rages on, some doctors and technologists are focusing on solutions.

Remembering the 5 Jewish Victims of the Florida Shooting

Posted on February 26th, 2018

by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller for aish.com

Four Jewish students and a teacher murdered along with 12 other victims.

On Wednesday, February 14, 2018, America experienced one of its worst ever school shootings, when a 19-year-old former student who had been expelled from Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, returned to his former school carrying a semi-automatic rifle, intent on murder.

The shooter had expressed hatred of Jews and other groups on social media, and openly called for the murder of Jews, Blacks and immigrants. As he calmly entered the halls of his former school, carrying a legally purchased high-powered rifle, he flipped the fire alarm, then took aim at the students and teachers who ran into the halls for what they assumed was a routine fire drill.